Dixit

Well, the "wife" finally moved in and brought her 2k3 TL-s over and I washed it and clay-bar-ed it, waxxed it a few times and did the whole 9 yards on it.

Then opened the hood and was horrified to see the engine bay was never taken care of, there is dust and crap all over it, I had to vacuum leaves and crap from the bay.

Wanted to know if there any gotchas on washing down the engine with degreaser stuff like Gunk or should I steam clean it ? (I have a industrial steamer).

I was going to tackle it with a wet cloth but no way im going to get it clean with a cloth, there is just too much to tackle.

Thanks
Dixit

chuckz

usually the car washes where u drive in that are like car ports (self-serve) have a degreaser built into the water nozzle. what i did is i sprayed the engine bay with the degreaser from the car wash, let it soak for like 10 minutes, then went back and rinsed it with the high pressure washer. remember to cover any major electrical components like your distributer cap. the good thing about this is you dont have to deal with harsh chemicals in your drive way or any dirt/nastiness that comes off of the engine bay.

clorich

CLpower

I haven't cleaned my CL engine bay in probably 4-5 years. Actually, I don't think I ever have


But for customers, I warm the engine up a little, get out the simple green, spray the fuck away, agitate w/ a brush a little bit then hose off, and dry

daniel1113

Is the Simple Green Automotive any different from the regular Simple Green? I purchased the standard stuff since I didn't realize there was a special auto formula.

Vicman17

I don't think they are different products. Been using the regular Simple Green for years. Just remember to put some dressing on the hoses after. They seem to look dried-up and has some white residue after the water has dried.

TOGWT

For information- Simple Green is corrosive and will react with bare aluminium causing hydrogen embrittlement (used on suspension components).

Here's their FAQ...

Simple Green products have been successfully and safely used on aircraft, automotive, industrial and consumer aluminum items for over 20 years. However, caution and common sense must be used: Aluminium is a soft metal that easily corrodes with unprotected exposure to water. The aqueous-base and alkalinity of Simple Green or Crystal Simple Green can accelerate the corrosion process. Therefore, contact times of All-Purpose Simple Green and Crystal Simple Green with unprotected or unpainted aluminium surfaces should be kept as brief as the job will allow - never for more than 10 minutes . Large cleaning jobs should be conducted in smaller-area stages to achieve lower contact time. Rinsing after cleaning should always be extremely thorough - paying special attention to flush out cracks and crevices to remove all Simple Green/Crystal Simple Green residues. Unfinished, uncoated or unpainted aluminium cleaned with Simple Green products should receive some sort of protectant after cleaning to prevent oxidation.
JonM

big mike 13

what exactly will i need to cover if i hose down the engine bay? im kinda scared to do it....
do i cover my battery?

chuckz

i covered my distributer cap and i was cautious whe i was around the plug wires.

JoganJani

Read this. I learnt my engine detailing from this.

http://autopia.org/kb/index.php?page..._v2&id=30&c=21